Prisoner of the Woods
by voila23xx
Summary: On her way to a wedding in the middle of nowhere, Rey finds herself lost in the woods. Unfortunately for her, the woods are haunted by an ancient and malevolent spirit.
1. Lost

Her hands clenched the steering wheel as she took a turn a little sharper than she should have. The curves in the road had gotten sharper and sharper as she progressed further into the mountainous woods. While Rey had lived in the city for over five years, she had never driven this far upstate before and she was more than a little shocked at the vast mountains she had been driving through for a little more than 4 hours. The landscape was very different than the English countryside she was used to, and she found the twisting roads and high altitude extremely disorienting.

Daring to take her hand off the wheel on a blessedly straight bit of road, Rey pulled out her cell phone and hit the speed dial for Finn. After all it was his fault that she was making this drive in the first place.

"You better be on your way by now!" The familiar voice answered.

"I'm on my way!" she replied exasperated. "Can you remind me why your getting married in the middle of nowhere again?" She heard Finn laugh momentarily, "It's not my fault Poe comes from a long line of Hill People."

"Hey! I heard that." Rey heard her other friend's voice cut through the phone.

"Wait till you get here Rey, it really is beautiful." Finn reassured her, "We would have planned the wedding in the city but most of Poe's family wouldn't have been able to make it!" he explained.

"I know, I know." She sighed, "As long as I don't get lost in these woods forever I'm sure it'll be alright."

Finn laughed, "Just stick to the main road and you should be fine!" Rey bit her lip nervously, the GPS on her phone had directed her off the highway and into the hills about thirty miles ago.

"Finn…" She started, hearing a static crackle emit from her phone, "I'm definitely not on a main road."

Her friend paused, "Uh… Can you turn around and get back to the highway?" he asked, the amount of worry in his voice sending a shiver down her spine, she swallowed and nodded to steel herself.

"I I think so, I've only made like three turns since turning off the highway."

"Okay, good, good…" Finn muttered, sounding relieved. "You've got a map right? Just incase?"

"Yeah it's in the trunk." Rey nodded, thanking herself for remembering to pack the map of the state. Rey pulled into a small dirt pathway to turn the car around. It had been the first turn off of any kind she had seen for quite a while and looked somewhat like a driveway but the lack of mailbox seemed odd.

"Give me another call when you're back on the highway, okay?" Finn asked.

Rey looked over her shoulder as she backed out of the not-driveway and almost jumped out of her skin. For the briefest of moments she could have sworn she saw a grayish face between two trees. She cursed and slammed her foot on the break.

"You okay?" Finn asked urgently. It took rey a moment to answer as her eyes scanned the forest for a glimpse of something she could have mistaken for the misshapen face that felt burned into her retinas.

"Just thought I saw something…" she sighed between belabored breaths. "My eyes are probably just tired from driving."

"Just keep driving and take a break when you get back on the highway Rey." Finn muttered, still sounding worried. She nodded and rubbed her eyes briefly before putting her foot back on the gas and pulling her car back onto the narrow road.

"Alright, I'll do that and give you call when I do." she sighed.

"Alright, love you, see you soon."

Rey smiled, "Love you too."

"And drive safe!" Finn exclaimed before she hung up, and plugged her phone into the AUX cord. She needed some cheerful music to shake the eerie feeling the woods gave her.

"Rey" A voice came, seemingly from her car speakers.

She grabbed the phone thinking she hadn't hung up on Finn but when she picked it up the call was certainly not connected. Trying not to over think it, she pressed play on her most upbeat playlist and concentrated on finding the correct turn back towards the highway.

* * *

The first turn was easy to find, she remembered it because there had been a small covered bridge, and the GPS must have re-routed her way back to the highway. The music helped calm her nerves and she sped along towards the second turn.

"Re-routing" The familiar female voice chimed. Rey's brows knit together in concern, had she missed the turn?

"Re-routing" The the voice came again. Rey slowed the car and turned down the music, muttering under her breath about the stupid phone.

"Re-routing."

"Damn it, I get it!" she exclaimed, picking up the device. As she looked at the screen her heart sank. The little white letters along the top of the screen read, 'No Service'.

"Fuck!" Rey shrieked, throwing her phone onto the passenger seat.

She thought to herself that she could drive for a while longer and try to find the right turn so she continued, it had to be coming up soon.

She passed the rundown shack that looked completely abandoned, that she had passed in the other direction so she knew she was heading the right way and had not missed the turn. When she finally came upon the next turn she couldn't be sure it was the right one, there was nothing remarkable about the location, and no street marker.

Rey took a deep frustrated breath as she pulled to a stop at the three way intersection and checked her phone for service. If she had come this way before, why was there no service now? She rolled her eyes and resigned herself to get out of the car and grab the map. It was starting to get marginally darker and she did not want to be stuck in the woods when the sun set.

A light noise from outside grabbed her attention, her head snapped around and she saw the stick which had fallen on the trunk of her car. She took a deep breath and turned back around, as she did so, she caught a glimpse of the same grey face from before in the rear view mirror. She felt her eyes get wide with fear and she immediately stepped on the gas and sped down the road, she needed to keep moving. She couldn't just brush off the appearance of the face a second time and her mind worked a mile a minute to rationalize the apparition.

Of course the first thought that crossed her mind was, _ghost_. She groaned audibly, annoyed at herself for even thinking something so stupid. But then realized the other possibility was even more frightening. If it wasn't a ghost it was a physical being, one that could run fast enough to keep up with her care for ten miles. She cursed under her breath and tried to trick herself into thinking it had been a hallucination caused by the high altitude and her exhaustion.

She glanced at her gas gauge and was pleased to see her tank was still mostly full, the last thing she needed was to run out of fuel. Finally when she calmed down enough Rey gathered her courage and pulled over. As quickly as she could, she popped the trunk and jumped out of the car, being sure to take her keys with her incase of getting locked out. The air was crisp and there was a soft breeze as she shuffled through the contents of the trunk. It would have been enjoyable if the feeling of being watched wasn't so prominent.

"Ah!" She cried in triumph as she found the map. However her victory was cut short for just as she slammed the trunk lid shut she was shrouded in an all encompassing coldness. She froze in fear and every hair on her body stood on end making her hyper aware of her surroundings. A slight rattling noise to her left made her head snap around and look in the direction of the sound.

While she saw nothing, her instincts told her she had to keep moving. She lunged for the car door and fumbled with the keys for a moment, her panic making her clumsy and slow. She had the distinct feeling that someone was standing directly behind her and chanced a glance into the reflection of the car window. With in a second she felt a pressure on the back of her neck and Rey's head was forced into the glass, making contact with a sharp _crack_.

As she slid to the ground against the car her mind registered what she had seen behind her in the reflection. It was the same as it had been in the woods before, a man's face, skin greyed with decomposition and skull sunken in on the side as if struck with an axe. The impact had made her head swim with confusion but Rey got the distinct impression that this was not just some crazy hill person, this was something else all together,

She hit the gravel road with a thud and curled in on herself, cradling her head where it had impacted with the car. She kept her eyes clenched shut as she lay there, paralyzed with fear. There was a moment when she felt the coldness descend over her again, but it was brief, quickly replaced with a warmth that enveloped her as completely as the cold. Rey chanced a peek through one eye and only saw a new face. If you could call it a face, it was more of a mask made from twisted metal and black leather.

"Help…" She managed to whimper before darkness claimed her and she passed out cold.

* * *

 **Author's note:** So this is my foray into writing some horror! I really enjoyed doing it, especially since I just returned from a similar drive on some equally creepy mountain road and halloween is just around the corner. Three guesses as to who shows up at the end of this chapter! Let me know what you think!


	2. Captive

Chapter 2 - Captive

The sound of her cell phone buzzing cut through Rey's consciousness but she couldn't tell from where. Her hands groped around her for a moment before she was able to open her eyes at all. When Rey finally cracked them open she was met with a very dark room. The surface below her was no longer the gravel of the country road, but a stiff, slightly itchy fabric. The only light at all emanated from her phone screen which was off to her right.

Rey reached for it and was relieved to see just one bar of service and Finns face and name on the caller ID.

"Finn…" She whispered, curling in on herself to muffle her voice.

"Rey?" His voice responded, panic tingeing the single syllable.

"Finn, I don't know where I am," She murmured, stumbling over her words. "I couldn't find the turn…" She started but was cut off.

"Rey? Can you hear me?" He asked frantically. "Rey?"

"I'm here, can't you hear me?"

"Rey! Please, this isn't funny…" Finn pleaded, "I'm calling the police if you're not here by midnight!"

"Finn!" Rey tried again, the fear churned her stomach and the sound of her friend's voice stoked her nerves. The line went dead and Rey felt herself start to slip into a panic. She had to concentrate, she knew there had to be a way out of this mess, whatever it was. Her breath came short and shallow as she rolled over in the dark and attempted to make out anything in the room. Her phone was still at over fifty percent battery so she pulled it out and turned on the flashlight.

"What the…" she began, the words falling out of her lips unbidden. Her panic subsided as she took in the room and slowly was replaced with pure curiosity. It was as if she had walked into a museum. She was in a cabin which seemed to be constructed of heavy wooden beams. Hanging from the rafters there were dried bouquets of various plants, against one wall was a giant hearth and against the other was an ornately carved desk.

Rey shone the light over the surface she was laying on and found it to be a simple bed, big enough for just one person and made from very sturdy looking pine. The blankets looked handmade out of chunky knit wool. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the only window in the house, mercifully, the curtains were pulled closed as she couldn't bare to think of seeing that haunting grey face peering in at her. Suddenly there was a loud bang and the door swung open, Rey let out a shriek and flew backwards off the bed.

As she sat crouched on the floor she heard the door shut and heavy footsteps cross the creaking floor in her direction. She held perfectly still, holding her breath and not daring to peek over the edge of the bed. Rey's entire body trembled when a deep voice cut through the tense silence.

"You don't have to be afraid of me. You're my guest."

Rey dared to poke her eyes out over the top of the mattress. Immediately her heart dropped, the terrifying mask which loomed over her before she had passed out was only feet away on the other side of the bed. It was clearly a man, his large frame blocked out the doorway entirely and his hands which gripped a stack of wood seemed impossibly large. He spoke again through the mouthpiece of his mask. It was made of slightly rusted bits of mangled metal.

"You'll be relieved to hear I have no intention of harming you. You don't need to be afraid."

Rey bit back a bitter laugh, this man's assertion did absolutely nothing to lessen her fear. How could it when all she could see was his terrifyingly large body and a mask which seemed almost designed to instill fear.

"That tends to happen when you've been kidnapped by a creature in a mask!" She barked, finally raising herself above the line of the mattress. There was a long pause and then the man stalked forward towards her. His gloved hands moved swiftly and pulled the mask off in one fluid movement.

The first thing Rey noticed was that he was young, younger than she could have imagined, no more than ten years older than herself. Then her eyes fell on his hair, it was long and fell in loose waves around his chiseled yet sallow face. There was something timeless about him and Rey couldn't quite put her finger on it; he was beautiful but something about him inspired a primal fear within her.

"Tell me, what are you doing in these woods?" He asked groughly, leaning over her. Rey remained silent, still dumbstruck by her captor's appearance. It took her a moment to gather her thoughts and explain the situation.

"I-I was on my way to a wedding, took a wrong turn and… and I kept seeing that face."

"It was foolish of you to get lost." He muttered, straightening and taking a step away from Rey, who scoffed.

"Yeah, I know." She watched the man turn away from her and place his mask roughly down on the desk, sending a couple sheets of parchment flying. "So are you going to help me get back to the main road?" She asked impatiently. "Because I have somewhere to be." She saw the man's shoulders rise with a huff of humourless laughter.

"If I could find the main road I would have left these woods a very long time ago." He murmured, voice low and dark. The way he spoke made the hair on the back of Rey's neck stand on end.

"What do you mean? You obviously live here!" She wailed, her frustration getting the better of her. "You have to know where the road is!" The man shook his head, his dark curls falling over his eyes. This had to be a nightmare, Rey thought, there was no way this was happening to her. She had to get out of here.

"You won't be able to find the road either, not now that you've seen him." The dark figure whispered as he crossed the room to the window. He pulled back the curtain and Rey could see a small bit of light fading through the trees. The sun had set and she was trapped in a log cabin with a mad man.

"Look, If you're not going to help me, I'll figure it out myself."

"I would help you if I could… There's no hope of escaping. But I will keep you safe to the best of my ability." He sighed, as he closed the curtains again and lit a lantern. The man came to sit on a chest across from the bed, his elbows on his knees. Rey took in his appearance now there was more light, his clothes were odd. Most of them black, or dark brown, he wore britches and boots that covered his knees and were adorned with heavy but ornate iron buckles. The doublet over his loose shirt was beautifully embroidered leather and draped over his immense shoulders was a woolen cowl, clasped in the front with an intricate pin.

"What do you mean?" She asked, settling on the bed.

"I've lost track of how long I have been here." He began, running his hand through his hair. He was an enigma to her and she watched him closely, both afraid of him and in awe. She held onto the blankets nervously, white knuckled. "I guess I should explain from the beginning and I know it will sound insane…"

Rey shrugged. How much more insane could this day get anyway?

"I was an officer, tasked with bringing the Rebels to heel." Rey's eyes narrowed, his outfit beginning to make more sense.

"The American Rebels? As in the Continental army?" She asked, confusion clouding her comprehension.

"Of course." he stated simply as though there could be no other explanation. Rey racked her brain for dates of the American War of Independence. Growing up in England she had been taught little of that particular war and it blurred together with other events she learned about in history class. Was it the early eighteenth century? She thought. Or was that the War of Spanish Succession?

"Hold on." Started, holding her hands up. "What year were you born?" She asked, knowing the answer would only add to her perplexity. The man took a deep breath and straightened himself,

"Seventeen-hundred fifty-one." He sighed.

"Do you know what year it is now?" She asked, leaning forward on her elbows in curiosity.

"No, It's been a long time," He begins, his voice trailing off in thought. He was silent for a moment then his eyes snapped back to Rey fixing her with his dark gaze. "I gave up counting the months and years once I realized it had been a century."

"Do you want to know?" she asked carefully, his mood seemed to be deteriorating the more he spoke of his entrapment. His head dropped as he looked at his hands and nodded slowly.

"Its two thousand eighteen." His head shot up at that and he fixed her with a disbelieving stare, they looked at each other for a long time, neither knowing what to say.

"What is your name?" He finally muttered, expression softening.

"Rey" She breathed, "and yours?"

"I was born Benjamin… It's difficult for me to remember ever going by that name however. During the war I was given a new name."

"Why?" Rey asked, letting the name Benjamin sink into her mind.

"I was a deserter, a traitor…" He admitted. "When I turned on the King's Royal Regiment the patriots gave me a new Identity." Benjamin paused for a long moment, seemingly lost in his memory. "I've been Kylo Ren ever since."

Author's Note: Wow so I might have bit off a lot to chew here. There's gonna be a lot of plot and a lot of historical stuff. I hope you liked this chapter! Let me know and I'll try to have the next up by the end of the weekend!


	3. Explanation

Chapter 3

Rey leaned against the headboard as Benjamin crossed the room to start a fire, as he moved she admired the way he deftly lifted the heavy looking firewood with one hand. He glanced over his shoulder as he knelt by the hearth and quirked an eyebrow at her curiously. Rey looked away, only mildly embarrassed he had caught her staring. He had to understand that she would be dumbfounded by his mere existence. It didn't help that he looked like a price from a dark fairy tale either, she thought bemusedly. She ran her hands over her face, rubbing her eyes, she should have been tired but there was too much going on to even think about sleep. When she pulled her hands away from her face she was pleased to see the room alight in the orange glow of the fire.

"Are you hungry?" Benjamin asked, straightening up from the fire. Rey contemplated it, and decided she could eat, so she nodded and thought to herself how Finn made fun of her for always being hungry even thought that was bound to happen when you went half your life with little to no access to food. She rolled her eyes and sat up as Benjamin approached.

"I don't have much" He started, pulling a ceramic container from the shelf, "I'll figure out something else for you to eat tomorrow." he muttered as he passed her the jar. She looked inside slightly suspiciously.

"What is that?" she questioned, looking at the brown chunks.

"It's venison." He said, looking a little offended. "It's preserved, don't worry… look." he took a piece and popped it in his mouth. Rey watched as he struggled to chew and tentatively reached into the jar. She examined the bit of meat in her hand and decided it looked close enough to beef jerky that she could stomach it.

"It's like jerky…" She muttered through a mouthful of salty, chewy meat.

"Jerky?" He asked, having finally swallowed his portion. Rey chuckled and shrugged,

"Never mind…" She said, shaking her head.

"And you?" He asked, his voice deep and low, the rumble of it distracted Rey momentarily.

"What?" She looked at him blankly.

"What about your name?" he murmured.

"Oh! It's Rey." She explained and watched as the corner of his mouth turned up with the faintest hint of a smile.

"Rey." He repeated, the name falling off his tongue slowly.

He was still eyeing her with that half smile as he took the container from her hands. She felt his fingers graze over hers and she was surprised how warm they were, it reminded her of when she had collapsed on the side of the road, She had felt him stoop over her, a wave of his warmth protecting her from the man with the Grey face.

"Benjamin?" She asked quickly, her head snapping up, gaze meeting his. "Are you going to tell me what that thing… that man was in the woods?"

"You can call me Ben…" he sighed, shifting nervously on his feet before slowly lowering himself on the edge of the bed. Rey felt the mattress dip with his weight and she shifted over to make more room for his enormous frame. "And I suppose I should…"

Rey tucked her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around herself tightly. Whatever Ben was about to tell her, she had a feeling was not going to be pleasant. He swung his legs onto the bed and mirrored her position, leaning against the footboard. They looked at each other for a long time before he began.

"The King's Royal Regiment was one of the first loyalist armies and we were respected across the colony." Ben paused, searching Rey's face for understanding. She nodded and he continued.

"Because the continental army were declared traitors we were unable legally to hold them was war prisoners, instead they were to be rounded up and hanged for treason, and given a dignified death at the end of the noose." Rey flinched, imagining Ben's large body hanging from a rope, face pale and eyes white. It sent a shiver down her spine. She met Ben's gaze and swallowed roughly before he continued.

"My commander, Snoke, was a ruthless man who didn't agree with the law, he wanted to exact vengeance on the rebels and gain power any way he could. There was a rumor in the regiment that he killed the prisoners and sacrificed them in secret."

Rey paled, "Sacrificed?" She asked, images of pentagrams and candles flashing in her mind.

"Witchcraft…" Ben started, "Deals with the devil for influence and prestige." He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath through his mouth before continuing. "I didn't believe it, I fought alongside the man against the continental army. I was riding back from town one day and came across him in the woods… his arms and chest were covered in blood."

Rey took a deep breath and envisioned the scene, the preserved meat repeating on her as she thought of a man covered in that amount of blood.

"I confronted him and told him of the rumors I had heard." Ben murmured, sliding forward slightly on the bed towards Rey as he noticed her nauseated face. "He attacked me and I fled, it made me a deserter but I had to get away. I went to the first place I could think of, my uncle's home. There I found my uncle and my mother, they certainly were surprised to see me." He recalled with an indignant huff before explaining. "When I joined the loyalists they all but disowned me, claiming I was fighting for the wrong side and history would remember me as the villain. My mother who has always been... _spiritual..._ said I had already been cursed and gave me my grandmother's talisman." His hand went to his chest and he pulled out a chain previously hidden by the fabric of his shirt. On the end of the chain was a silver cross embedded with a selection of blue-grey stones.

Rey instinctively reached forward and trailed her fingertips across the smooth stones, she looked up at Ben inquisitively.

"It's Bluestone." He whispered, "It was used by the druids to bring luck and protection. This particular cross was worn and blessed by the Archbishop Jinn and gifted to my grandmother, the stones were passed down through my family for a hundred years before my birth." Ben's finger brushed against Rey's momentarily before he pulled the cross out of her hand and tucked it back against his chest, she looked up and met his gaze, his eyes twinkled mysteriously in the firelight which both frightened her and piqued her curiosity.

"My uncle Luke was a colonel in the Continental Army and convinced me to join them and give up the Loyalist's secrets." He slid his hands through his hair nervously. "I should have just disappeared I shouldn't have taken sides." He muttered and Rey could tell he still harboured deep guilt over all of this, even after so many years. She braced herself and waited for Ben to continue. "I gave the rebels my information, the names of the leaders, the code names of spies in their ranks and even the location of the camp. Luke waited for new years eve, knowing the troops would be celebrating and the lookouts would not be at their posts.

"He used my information to ambush the Regiment and slaughter or capture nearly every one of the men, Snoke escaped into the forest and It fell on me to find the prisoners. So I went into the woods in search of where Snoke had them incarcerated." Ben swallowed heavily and Rey noticed his face had turned a slight green color. "I found them… they were shackled to the wall of a cliff, all of their throats had been slit."

Rey felt the bile in her throat threaten to gurgle up into her mouth, she swallowed against it and grasped the blanket below her until her knuckles were white.

"I turned to head back to the camp and was attacked by the Commander Snoke, we chased each other through the trees until we came up against a stone ridge and there was nowhere left to run." As he spoke, Ben gazed with unfocused eyes at the wall above Rey's head, obviously remembering the image of his former commander backed against a wall.

"He started chanting, his voice was… different. When he charged me he came with more force I would have thought possible for a man of his age and size. I swung my saber and it connected with his head." Rey noticed Ben's hands were shaking slightly and stopped herself from reaching out to put her hands over his. Ben took a slow breath and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry… I haven't spoken of this to anyone…" He laughed humorloressly, "I haven't spoken to anyone in so long, I'm sorry if this is too much." His deep voice was full of self consciousness and it tugged on Rey's heartstrings in a way she hadn't expected. She lurched forward and rather ungracefully put her hand on Ben's forearm.

"It's okay." She murmured, "It's not too much, I need to know." She reassured him, hoping she hadn't been to forward, especially for this man's eighteenth century sensibilities. She was consoled when he slipped his large hand over hers before continuing.

"Snoke's body crumpled and I thought maybe I had passed out, or I was hallucinating because he turned to ash as soon as he hit the ground. There was a flash his voice echoed through the trees." Ben took a deep breath and his head dropped, Rey felt his fingers twitch against hers and she gave his hand a squeeze.

"The last thing I heard was him calling me a traitor and I went unconscious."

"Ben…" Rey breathed feeling overwhelmed. She imagined he felt the same and she didn't want to pressure him further, but she had to say something.

"You're mother said you were already cursed when you went to her." She whispered, "You couldn't have done differently, you killed an evil man, that doesn't make you a traitor."

Ben shuddered and pulled his hand away, moving to grip the bedspread angrily. Rey sensed his mood shifting and she backed up against the headboard again to give him space.

"I could have done so many things differently." He whispered harshly. "My sworn duty was to the King and I betrayed that because I was afraid."

"There's no use berating yourself now." She muttered and he remained silent. It scared her to see him so tense, he was like a live wire, frayed and charged with energy. Rey had seen enough angry men in her life to know when to leave well enough alone so she kept silent and curled in on herself. There was a long moment of fraught silence, the only sound came from the crackling fire which dwindled down to embers now. Suddenly Ben shoved himself off the bed and to his feet.

"I need a breath of air." He growled before stalking off towards the door. He threw a glance over his shoulder at Rey before he slammed the door behind him and ventured into the dark.

Rey closed her eyes and pulled a blanket up to her face as she felt hot tears prick at the corner of her eyes. She was still trying to wrap her head around the situation and now she had to deal with not only her own emotions but the emotions of this strange man? She couldn't deny that she felt something for him, he was beautifully tragic but there was a darkness to him. He was so defeated by his circumstances that he had turned all his negativity inwards. She felt a wave of exhaustion roll over her and she yawned into the blankets. The fire was nearly out so she stood and crossed the room to add another log.

After she stoked the flames for a couple moments she meandered back to the bed. Her eyes trailed along the items on the desk as she made her way. There was a stack of handmade paper, and a calligraphy set. Her eyes skimmed some of the beautifully written words but the flickering firelight made it hard to read the scrawling script. She made sure the curtains were pulled tightly shut, not allowing a single crack of window to be unobscured and then crossed the room back to the bed.

As she sunk into the mattress she hoped Ben would return soon, but she was too exhausted to wait for him. The single feather pillow smelled like pine and smoke and with one final yawn, sleep overwhelmed her.

* * *

 **Authors note:** Hey! So, I'm so grateful for the response this story has gotten so far! I have most of the story mapped out so uploads should be coming quick! Let me know what you think so far and where you want this story to go!


	4. Hex

Chapter 4 - Hex

Rey woke with a small start and was immediately confused as to where she was however it only took seconds for her to remember the absolutely insane events of the previous day. She hoped futilely that it had all been a dream but the heavy smell of smoke and scratch of the blankets told her she would not be so lucky. She dragged her hands over her face and slung her feet off the bed. There was a crumpled pile of blankets on the ground which told her Ben had returned in the night and slept on the floor.

The sun came in through the window which now had drawn open curtains and Rey followed the light. She padded across the cold floor and looked out the window to see Ben huddled over an open fire. She knocked lightly on the glass and his head spun around quickly, they made eye contact and he gave her a slight smile before gesturing for her to join him.

Rey backed away from the window, slipped her shoes on and pulled her sweater over her head. She looked around for a mirror and found none so she pulled her hair into a tight knot on the top of her head. She hoped her breath wasn't too rancid from the preserved meat which had been considered her dinner the night before and eventually pushed the door open, wondered to the side of the house and found Ben.

"Good morning." He muttered, half turning towards her.

"Morning." She yawned, noticing various pots and kettles hanging over the fire. She picked up her pace when she caught the sight of eggs frying in one of the heavy pans. She plopped down beside the large man on a bench which seemed to be hacked out of a whole log.

"Eggs?" She asked excitedly, smiling when Ben looked up at her curiously before nodding. Rey gave a delighted little wiggle and peered into the other pot on the fire. It looked like a pot full of bubbling mud.

"It's chicory." Came Ben's gravelly voice in explanation. "Not as good as coffee and certainly not as good as tea but it does the job." He sighed, reaching over and pouring some of the liquid into an earthenware mug.

"I never was the biggest fan of tea to begin with." She said, raising the cup to her nose. It didn't smell exactly like coffee but it was close. "My American friends all think that's funny… You know, how brits are supposed to be obsessed with tea."

"We do rather love it." He muttered, a smile barely cracking across his face. "It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a proper cup of tea" he sighed amusedly.

"Were you born in England?" Rey asked as she took a sip of the chicory, she winced initially at the bitterness of it but the second sip was more palatable.

Ben nodded, pouring himself a bit of the thick liquid. "Derbyshire, near Bakewell. And you?" Rey smiled, she figured from his accent he was from somewhere up north.

"London, but not the nice part." She muttered, rolling her eyes. She was perfectly used to explaining to people that not all of London was sparkling royal palaces and magnificent churches. Ben huffed,

"I didn't realize any of london was _nice._ "

"What do you mean?" She asked, taken aback as she imagined the sprawling parks and luxurious mansions of central london. Ben set his mug down and leaned forward to pull the fried eggs off the fire.

"On the occasions I visited london I was struck by the number of workhouses and the amount of poverty. Even the wealthiest of the city were grotesque to me in their opulence and corruption."

Rey was taken aback by the bitterness of his voice.

"My father was a fur merchant, when he returned from the colonies to sell his wares I would accompany him to some of the finest homes in London." He started, passing Rey a metal plate with two eggs. "My mother was of a noble lineage but never participated in society outside of Derbyshire, and it was easy to tell why." He sighed.

Rey dug into her eggs, eyes still glued on Ben as he continued his story.

"Those people were vipers." He muttered through a mouthful of his own eggs. "Always speaking down to us, as if I did not have my own title just because my father was a merchant. Snoke was the worst of them, even back then."

"You knew Snoke when you were young?" Rey asked in surprise.

"My father knew him before I was even conceived." He sighed, "My parents thought he would make a fine mentor for me, and they were right in a way. When we came to the colonies it was under Snoke's instruction and with the promise I would one day take his position as Commander of the Royal Regiment."

Rey nodded, "Sounds like a better reason for coming to Amercia than mine." She laughed. "At least you had a job lined up." Ben looked at her like he was confused about why she was laughing so she explained. "I didn't really have anything planned for when I got here, I came into a large sum of money unexpectedly so I bought a ticket and just left."

"You left your family?" Ben asked, placing his plate beside him, the confused tilt of his eyebrows making her smile.

"Never really had a family to begin with." She sighed, shaking her head.

"Oh…" He muttered the same way people usually did when she explained that she was an orphan, voice full of pity.

"It's okay, never knew my parents and grew up pretty much on my own." She explained with a shrug.

"Where did you get the funds?" He asked as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

"The man who I lived with just up and died one day, Plutt was awful but at least he didn't have any family to leave his estate to so I sold everything." Rey muttered with a mouth full of eggs, she smirked to herself, remembering how good it had felt to get rid of Plutt's belongings and start a new life with sizeable amount in her bank account. When Rey glanced back at Ben he was looking at her with an odd expression, she would have called it a smile but the warriness of his eyes betrayed him.

"What?" She asked, putting her plate down and leaning in towards him. Ben shook his head slightly and looked at the ground as he spoke.

"What made Plutt so awful? Why did you want to get away so badly?"

Rey almost never spoke about Plutt to anyone, the only person who knew the extent of her experience with him was Finn. She pulled her sweater more tightly around her shoulders and looked off into the trees. She figured she had trusted Ben up until this point with her safety, and she felt that she could trust him with this personal bit about herself. Besides, who was he going to tell?

"He was my legal guardian and even though he provided enough for me to get by, like food and clothes, he wasn't nice and was always drunk. He'd hit me when he didn't get his way." She glanced up at Ben and noticed he was grimacing. She hoped he wouldn't pity her too much after she told him her sob story. He stood up and stoked the fire, listening as she continued. "The physical stuff was bad but the things he'd say were way worse, you know?"

"Yes…" He sighed, his tone serious. He joined her back on the bench and stared off towards the woods, she got the feeling he knew how it felt to be verbally beaten down. "Snoke was the same." He offered, surprising Rey. "Still is." He muttered with a humorless scoff.

"I thought your charm protected you." Rey murmured, gesturing to his chest where she knew the cross was hidden.

"I can still hear him occasionally, when I'm feeling particularly weak I think. His voice gets through and it's always the same as when I was a boy."

Rey felt her own face contort with pity now and her heart ached for Ben. At least she had only had to deal with Plutt for sixteen years, whild Ben had been stuck with his abuser for centuries.

"The charm makes it so he can't affect me physically…" His voice was a whisper now and Rey knew it wasn't just verbal abuse Snoke had inflicted on Ben as a child. "That's why you have to stay close, I don't know if the charm will protect you if we are separated." His voice had a tone of desperation to it.

Rey nodded, she had so many questions about Snoke and Ben's upbringing but she didn't know where to start so she changed the subject.

"So how does this work? Is it a curse? You said your mother told you it was a curse."

"A curse, a hex, a malediction, call it what you will." Ben explained, resting his chin on his hand, he looked more tired than before as if the memory of Snoke's misconduct had drained him. "A by product of Snoke's devil worship is what it is, he poisoned this land with his evil doing and it is I, and now you, who are to suffer the consequences."

Rey chewed on her lip and curled in on herself minutely, his words and the bitterness of his voice struck fear into her.

"I have to get out of here… I have people waiting for me, they'll come looking for me if I don't turn up." She whispered and Ben scowled.

"They might come looking for you but they won't find you.."

"They will! they'll find my car on the road!" Rey argued but Ben just shook his head.

"My uncle knew this was where I chased Snoke to, he came looking for me and all I could hear was him calling my name. We could never find each other no matter how close his voice seemed to be."

Rey slammed her hands down beside her, she was becoming frustrated at Ben's hopelessness.

"Well then how did I find you?" she whined.

"I don't know, I did not think it to be possible." He said, his voice low.

"If I could find you, there has to be a way for Finn to find us." she muttered determinedly. "I'm getting out of here, one way or another." She glanced at Ben and noticed his melancholic frown had been replaced with a small smirk.

"We can try." he conceeded as he stood and Rey heard the smallest bit of optimism tint his voice, sweetening it like sugar in dark and bitter coffee.

* * *

Rey helped Ben around the cabin the rest of the morning, she followed him about as he gathered kindling, washed his shirts and foraged some mushrooms from the woods. She learned that Ben made his own soap from the ashes in the hearth and the fat of the animals he ate. She found a handful of edible mushrooms and two handfuls of mushrooms Ben said would kill her. When she added her harvest of fungi to Ben's basket he smiled warmly at her.

"I had an idea…" He said as he plucked one of the mushrooms Rey picked out of the bunch and tossed it to the ground. "Poisonous," He sighed before continuing. Rey was surprised, he had been silent save for explaining the process of making lye for soap. She wondered if he was annoyed with her for being so pushy and accusatory earlier or if he was just deep in thought.

"Oh?" She asked, looking up at him she noticed he was already looking at her. His eyes were dark and sparkling.

"I'm going to take one of the stones out of my cross for you to have." He stated, his voice taut. Nerves gripped Rey immediately.

"You can't do that! What if the charm only works with all the stones?"

"I don't know how it works but it should offer you some protection, incase we're separated."

"No, Ben, I don't want you to ruin it, you said it's a family heirloom." Rey said, shaking her head as Ben pulled aside the collar of his shirt, exposing the pale flesh of his neck against which the silver chain glinted. She didn't have any family heirlooms of her own but she imagined it carried great personal importance for Ben. She watched as his hand slipped under his shirt and he fished out the cross. In the Daylight the pendant was more ornate than she remembered from the previous night and so beautiful.

"I don't have any heirs to pass it down to, so why does it matter?" He asked nonchalantly with a shrug. Rey scoffed and looked up at him dumbfounded.

"You could."

"Doubtful." He responded curtly and flipped the cross around between his long fingers She saw that the back was just as ornately carved and imbued with one larger stone in the middle.

"You don't even know it will work! What if the protection is in the cross, not the stones?" She protested.

"The stones and the cross were both blessed by the same man." He murmured contemplatively, running the pad of his thumb over the large stone. Quickly he pulled the necklace over his head and handed it to Rey. She took it gently, cradling the object with reverence. She didn't think she had ever held something so old and valuable before. She thought for a brief moment that the silver still felt warm from it's contact with Ben's skin. When she looked up at him again she gasped to see a small knife in his hand. Protectively she closed her fingers around the charm.

"You really don't have to…" She began to protest but Ben cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"I want to." He stated, his voice impatient, gesturing for her to give him the cross. She placed it in his open palm reluctantly and watched as he brought the knife up to the stone. Before she could do any more protesting he deftly sunk the tip of the blade into the crease between stone and metal and with a small pop, the rock was freed from it's bindings. He glanced up at her as he turned it over in his hand, "For you…" He said softly, his voice barely above a whisper.

Rey watched him in silence as he reached for her hand and pressed the stone against her palm, his other hand coming up to curl her fingers around it. His hands dwarfed hers as he wrapped his fingers around them and she looked up at him, noting how his mouth had tilted into a small sad smile.

"Thank you." She breathed. He only nodded in response and slowly pulled his hands away from her own. She felt colder somehow without the contact and gave an involuntary shiver.

"Let us get inside, the sun will be going down soon." he said, turning and picking up his basket of mushrooms again. As he walked off towards the cabin Rey watched him replace the chain around his neck and then looked down at the stone in her hands.

It was about the size of a quarter and polished into a smooth shining surface. The color was beautiful, blue and grey marbled with white and green. She stood transfixed as she gazed at it, mesmerized by smoothness between her fingers.

"Rey." Came a voice from Ben's direction but she looked up to see he had already disappeared into the forest. Her stomach dropped as the familiar sensation of being watched overcame her. She felt a chilly draught like breath on the back of her neck and she gripped the stone more tightly, clutching it to her chest. The cold breeze felt as if it shifted and was no longer directed at her, and the feeling of being watched began to recede. She darted off towards where Ben had entered the trees and called out for him frantically to no avail.

Thankfully they hadn't strayed too far from the cabin and Rey found her way back quickly, only tripping on one gnarled root as she did. He looked up at her from where he was taking a log for the fire as she broke free from the shadow of the trees.

"I told you to stay close." He muttered, turning back to his task.

"I think the stone works." Rey sighed as she crossed the clearing and slumped down in front of the fire, the warmth melting away the last of the ghostly chill she had felt. He approached and added the new log to the flames with a satisfied smile on his lips.

* * *

 **Author's Note** : Hey sorry for the slow updates on this! I hope you are still enjoying it, please let me know! (Also sorry for any historical inaccuracies, I try to research as best as I can!) Leave me a comment to let me know your thoughts please! Thanks for reading!


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